This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.
Chapter 4: 60 Revolutions
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Twilight was in the same place again, her dream seeming repetitive. The circle of light illuminated the metal gurneys that came out of the darkness, carrying each corpse with comfort. Yet tonight, the dream was slightly different. The elderly mare, Baba Yaga was what the other corspses had called her, sat on a comfortable looking throne with her hooves crossed over another. Yet this disturbed Twilight. It wasn't that she was seeing a living corpse sitting in comfort, no. It was that the throne was made out of pony skulls and bones.
However, Twilight's attention was stolen from the throne as the dead ponies started to rise from the gurneys and walk to Baba Yaga again. They addressed her and kissed her front hooves, like she was a long-lost mother. When Twilight saw that all the corpses that had come assembled behind and around Baba Yaga all facing her, she knew she was in for a confusing lecture again.
Twilight opened her mouth to ask the dead matriarch a question, but shut it as the ground started to shake. Twilight cast a quizzical glance to Baba Yaga, who gave a smile that should not have existed.
“Late arrivals.” she said with the same thick accent. A long rectangle of the obsidian ground fell away, making a ramp that came out into the light. Twilight wondered who was coming. It was strange, but she had gotten over the fact that all the ponies here were dead. Sure, it was ghastly, but this was only a dream, right?
Twilight was shocked to see the flower-selling stallion come out of the ground first. He saw her and gave her a sheepish smile, like meeting in death was just another visit. Then two other ponies came out of the ground, and Twilight didn't know who they were, until she saw their cutie marks; a steel sword and a shining hammer.
One was a large stallion, gray, with a red mane. He wore a somber expression and was followed by a smaller colt. The colt looked like he was just about to finish growing and enter his stallion-hood. He had golden coat and a dark amber mane. The colt winked at Twilight as his father whispered his hellos to Baba Yaga. The colt came up to her and gave her a large, loving hug, looking happy the whole time. They stood on Baba Yaga's left, and Baba Yaga smiled at them and then Twilight.
“Why am I here again?” Twilight asked, getting over the shock of seeing ponies she knew and was told about.
“This is simple Twilight Sparkle: the debt must be paid.”
“You said that last time, but what do you mean?”
Baba Yaga swung a hoof around to the ponies that surrounded her. “You are not stupid, we know this Twilight Sparkle. So when the dead speak of debts, it means one of two things.”
Twilight was about to open her mouth, but Baba put up a hoof and looked at the sternly with glazed over eyes.
“One,” she said matter-of-factly “you owe the dead something, and we come to take it.”
Twilight gulped and held her breath. She knew about the old legends. When you owed the dead, they usually took a pony's life as payment.
“Or two, the dead owe you something.”
“Huh?” Twilight said, all of her fear vanishing.
“You showed care for the dead, you did.” Baba Yaga said.
“But this doesn't happen every time somepony dies.” Twilight stuttered, remembering back to when she was a little filly. One of her mother's great aunt's had died, and Twilight's family went to the funeral. Twilight cried for the dead aunt, but only because she didn't know to do anything else.
“That is because the dead you have met before have no reason to be in your debt.”
“So throwing up after seeing your bodies enlists a debt?”
Baba Yaga chuckled. “Do not worry about how you we owe you, for it has not even happened yet.”
Twilight became very confused. “What do you...”
“Just know, In your time of need, find dirt from our land. Wipe it across the eyelids and lips of the one you can not live without and beckon us.” Baba Yaga said with a serious voice.
The light in Twilight's dream started to dim.
“We will come. We will come until the debt is paid.”
“Do do, do do, dun, do do,” went the accordion, wakening everypony in the caravan with a jolly tune. Twilight groggily arose as Squeeze magicked his spell from the accordion. She sat in the darkness of the room as everypony got up. Twilight would usually be extremely tired, yet she was energized. She knew they were going to save her brother now, and then they'd be able to escape. Somepony opened the door to the caravan and walked out into the lighter darkness of the night.
Twilight walked outside to be illuminated by a crescent moon. There were no clouds in the clear and crisp night. Twilight shivered involuntarily as she felt the crisp air on her flank. She was happy she had Red's vest on. It's warmth kept her protected from the cold of the Romaneian nights. She felt a warmth come to her cheeks as she thought about something else Red could help her with to stay warm.
She looked up at the night sky trying to quell such thoughts by looking at the stars. It was so rare to see one of Luna's night-time masterpieces in all its beauty. Back in Canterlot, Twilight could barely ever see the night sky due to all the light pollution. It was better in Ponyville, but she could still rarely see this. For a glimpse of the true beauty of the night sky, a pony had to be far away from civilization.
“Beautiful, is it not?” said Grafted beside her.
Twilight jumped and then let out a sigh. When did he get there? She kept looking up at the night sky.
“Yeah. I was just thinking that we don't get to see enough of these nights out in Ponyville.”
“We see nights like this as long as we travel. It is one of the joys of being a nomad.”
Twilight sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could live like that.”
“Then come join us!” Crashing Cymbal called from behind them.
“Yeah! Red Star could use a mare to keep him warm at night! It would keep him from being such a fund!” String Saddle added.
Both stallions broke into boisterous laughter as Twilight thanked the darkness, so nopony could see she was redder than Big Mac's coat.
Red Star came out from another caravan. “Is everypony ready?”
Streaking came out of no where, a blur of darkness. She was wearing what looked like a harness, but it crossed over her chest. When she moved, the moonlight reflected off of it strangely.
“Let us be gone! I vant to be find out how vell trained these ones are!”
She noticed Red Star was glaring at her. She rubbed her head with a hoof.
“I meant, let us save Twilight's brother! Da!”
“Grafted are you ready?” Red asked, looking over to he and Twilight.
“My quiver is full.” Grafted said with a nod. Twilight examined Grafted with a start. Indeed, he had a quiver on his back. It was full of arrows and one large bow.
“Ready to leave.” Crashing said. Twilight examined him in the darkness and was shocked to find a large hoof-mace strapped to his leg.
Twilight looked amongst the group and found out the were all armed. Grafted had his bow, Crashing his hoof-mace, but Twilight was surprised to find out what the other ponies used with grim curiosity. String had a long whip wrapped around one of his front hooves, ready for use at a moment's notice. Twilight took another glance at Streaking and noticed that her 'harness' was actually two bandolier belts filled with small and deadly knives. The strangest in the group was small Squeeze box, who had ten long and heavy-looking spears strapped to his sides. It was a little comical to see the squat, smiling unicorn carry such long and heavy objects, but Twilight reminded herself what they were for. Finally Twilight looked at Red Star. He had a long sheath on his shoulder and Twilight could tell it was a mouth-sword.
“Would you like anything?” Red Star asked her.
“What?”
“A weapon.”
Twilight felt sick. “I'll stick with my magic.”
Red nodded and pulled out a map from a small saddlebag on his side. He unrolled it onto the dewy grass, making small wet spots appear in it, but he didn't seem to mind. On this map, there were only two circles. One was red and the other green. Red Star pointed to the green circle.
“This is where we are right now. If we move at mid-speed, we will be able to reach the station in four hours. Then we'll split up into groups. Twilight will be coming with me and String.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the map. She counted out the increments and her eyebrows shot up into her mane. They planned to run 30 miles! Red started to roll the map back up and put it into his bag.
“I have a better idea.” Twilight said, putting a hoof on the map before Red could put into his bag. She unrolled it again and looked at it intensely.
“What is it?” Red asked.
“Everypony come here.” she said closing her eyes, her horn starting to glow purple in the night.
Red and the other curiously clustered around her as her horn grew brighter and brighter. With a rush of energy, Twilight released the magical energy and they were off.
In mere seconds, the group popped into existence on a hill only a mile away from the station. All the gypsy ponies were dazed by the teleportation, but Twilight was used to it. She climbed to the top of the hill and looked at the station.
“What are you doing?!” Red whispered angrily at her, pulling her down to her belly. “They could have spotted you!”
“Sorry.”
Red extracted a pair of binoculars from his bag and glimpsed through them. He whistled softly.
“Squeeze, you were right. There's at least ten more soldiers there.” He passed the binoculars to Twilight, who took them and glanced to the station.
The first thing she saw, was that the open window was covered by a blue tarp, showing it hadn't been replaced yet. Then she saw the four soldiers on guard duty, waiting on the roof. Each held a powerful crossbow and was looking out at the night in boredom. Four other ponies paced around the outside of the building on the ground, looking just as bored. Twilight assumed there must have been more on the road side, and probably even more in the building as well. She passed the binoculars to String who had formed a line with the rest of the gypsies, all laying down like her and Red. The binoculars went down the line in silence until they reached Grafted, the last pony in the line.
“So what's the plan?” he whispered while handing the binoculars back to Squeeze.
Red turned to Twilight. “Can you create a diversion with magic? Preferably on the opposite side of the building.”
Twilight's heart raced. She was going to help, no, she was a crucial part of this operation. She had a job to do, and do it she would. Her horn glowed lavender in the dark night and a loud boom resounded from the building. Everypony jumped as it repeated again and again.
“Oy gevalt! What did you do?!?” String Saddle asked.
Twilight gave him a mischievous smile. “I made the bar in front of the haywire. It's now slamming itself into the pavement.”
“Good job, but that's a little over the top. Now all the soldiers are awake!” hissed Crashing.
“Oh please. It's not like you vouldn't have voken them up anyway.” Streaking quipped.
A goofy smile spread along Crashing's face. “Yeah. You're right.”
“Hurry, let's move while they're distracted. Squeeze, Grafted you know the signal. Crashing, Streaking, go. Come on String, Frumos.”Red directed. He led String and Twilight into a gallop down the hill and into the small valley under the building while Streaking grabbed Crashing, and in a feat of amazing pegasi strength, carried him into the air.
Red stopped his group directly underneath the building's overlook and told his group to be quiet with his hooves. From above, startled voices were speaking loudly in Romaneian. Twilight held her breath and could hear every step they made. They stayed around the tarp and the noises they made echoed along the small valley. Red waited until he heard a large amount of ponies in the main room before he whistled sharply.
All movement and voices stopped in that moment. Red and the rest held their breaths and slunk up against the wall of the hill as they heard a pony rustle with the tarp. One of the soldiers had undone it and was now looking out along the valley. The time was measured in heartbeats as the trio heard a faint whistling noise. The pony in the building leaned out the broken window trying to get a glimpse of what was coming, but it was too late. The whistling grew louder and then became a sharper as one of Squeeze Box's spears flew through the air, breaking up into a million sharper pieces as it was designed. The hail of metal flew through the open window and the trio underneath heard loud screams and thumps hitting the floor. Twilight screamed and then quickly silenced herself with her hooves as the pony who had been leaning out the window fell down in front of the trio. To her, he looked like a porcupine in pony form. He had been killed instantly, but the look on his face plus all the shrapnel poking out of his body almost made Twilight throw up on the spot.
“Let's go, Crashing and Streaking will need our help!” Red directed as he led the other two up the side of the hill. From above, loud fighting sounds could be heard. Crossbow darts whizzed in the night and rebounded off the cement walls of the building as the soldiers tried to hit the duo on the roof.
Seconds after Red gave the sign, Streaking had dropped Crashing onto the roof to deal with the four sniper ponies. She helped from the air, until a crossbow dart from a ground-soldier had grazed her wing. She went down hard, onto the roof, but was mostly ok. A few bruises and a minor cut was nothing. More crossbow darts whizzed past the lip of the roof as Crashing and Streaking laid there under fire.
Red, String, and Twilight came to level ground and saw the ponies on the ground had their attentions occupied by the two on the roof. The soldiers yelled things in Romaneian to each other and also to the duo, without noticing the new trio.
Red and String looked and each other and smiled. “Too easy.”
String moved first, whipping the crossbow out of the first soldier's hooves, before wrapping the soldier's hooves together with the whip. He pulled the soldier towards him, before the soldier fell to the ground and String bucked him in the face.
By this time, the soldiers were aware of the other ponies, and they started shooting in their direction. Red unsheathed his long, curved sword and he and String danced away, dodging crossbow bolts and counterattacking. String's whip spoke of its arrival with loud cracks and Red's curved, scimitar-like sword danced in the night, creating fountains of crimson everywhere it went. Twilight saw this and her eyes grew wide. She hadn't signed up for this. Saving her brother: yes. Killing ponies: never.
A few soldiers spotted her and she instinctively cowered down onto the ground and cast a large purple dome around herself. As a Bearer of the Element of Harmony, Twilight was used to fighting with monster and other baddies, so a strong shield was easy to create, even while under extreme stress. She started to quake with fear when she heard more and more crossbow bolts hit her shield. Unknown to her, the dodging String and Red did had brought them further and further away from her. While she cowered, she became a sitting duck. Red and String had moved to the opposite side of the street, fighting and dispatching enemies.
Red wiped the sweat and the grime from his forehead as he pulled his sword out of another pony's chest with a large sucking sound. It was true that this was his father's sword, and that he'd never be as good as Steel Sword with the blade made for him; yet Red found a very satisfying feeling in killing the stallions who killed his father with his father's sword. They deserved it, and Red was their reckoning. Red glanced over to String, who was strangulating another soldier with his whip. String nodded to him as he slowly let the dead body down onto the ground. Another job well......
Wait! Where was Twilight?
Red frantically looked around for the mare and saw a glittering purple shield on the other side of the street, where they had first come in from. It was surrounded by soldiers firing their deadly bolts into it. He hit himself for forgetting she was still a rookie, and and Equestriani at that too. He sprinted towards her.
“Twilight!”
The sharp call pulled the soldier's attentions off of Twilight's shield. They turned just as Red approached, quickly dispatching two with his sword. The rest, however, reacted. They started to fire their crossbows at him, and Red was forced to use on of the ponies he impaled as a shield. Bolts thunked into the fleshy wall while Red backed up. He grimaced as bolts started to fly past his shield and snarled when one grazed his leg. He fell to a knee and braced himself as the soldiers started to move closer.
“Red!” cried String, breaking Twilight out of her terror. She looked up from the ground to see the ponies who were once attacking her converging on Red. She also saw String make a mad dash towards them, but she knew he'd be too late. She started to panic, and looked frantically between the two stallions. She blew out her shield in a fit of terrified magic power. The blast blew the soldiers to the ground along with her friends. She rushed to Red's side as soon as she stopped shaking in place.
“Red?Red!” she cried.
The monochromatic stallion blinked a few times and then tried to stand unsuccessfully. Twilight heaved a sigh of relief. He was ok, she hadn't hurt him. That was all that mattered. She lowered a hoof to him to help him stand and he took it. Then his eyes grew wide, and he pulled Twilight to the ground.
“Shield!”
Twilight quickly brought up an identical glowing dome as crossbow bolts flew into it. The soldiers stood up and fired with a vengeance. Twilight had merely stunned them, and now they were pissed.
Red panted in the dome and saw Twilight had stood up again. She looked wide-eyed at the soldiers. They yelled slurs and curses in Romaneian that were muffled by the shield.
“Stop them!”
Twilight looked down at Red, her face streaked with tears. Red noticed with a start that she was trembling.
“I....I can't do it. I can't kill another pony.” she broke down into sobs, and the dome didn't disappear, but started to fluctuate.
Red pulled the mare down into a hug. He kept forgetting she was from Equestria. They were a nation of peace, where something like this would never had happened. He stoked her mane while mentally smacking himself. She was scared out of her mind, and now he was asking her to do something impossible.
“Shssss. It will be alright frumos. If...If you can not end them, then could you stun them, or put them to sleep?”
Twilight raised her head to look into his face. She bit her tear-soaked lip, and gently nodded. She stood and her horn glowed once more. A dark blue mist wove itself from under the shield and started to surround the soldiers. At first they panicked, but their movements became sluggish, until they finally dropped to the ground asleep. Twilight lowered her shield, still shaking. She turned around and helped the slightly wounded Red to his hooves. He threw his wounded hoof over Twilight's back and he hobbled along. They looked over the street at the power of Twilight's magic. All the soliders had fallen into a deep sleep, plus one unlucky String Saddle.
Crashing and Streaking came rushing out of the building.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, ve saw from the roof. Vat happened?”
Red sighed. “Don't worry about it. It was my fault anyways. Could you two take the weapons off these soldiers and tie them up? I want them locked away in their own prisons.”
“Got it.” Crashing said, starting by removing a knife off of a soldier.
“What did you two find in there?”
“The armory is full.” Streaking smiled gleefully.
“Good. That is what we need. Go help Crashing, and Streaking.....”
“Yes?”
“Wake up String.”
Crashing and Streaking laughed as they found the prone body of String.
“Let's go inside Twilight.” Red smiled. Twilight hobbled inside with him re-living the memory of what had happened just a day ago. The narrow corridor made her flesh crawl, as did the small room that was still lit with its intense light. Twilight and Red navigated into the main room of the building, finding the hoof-work of Squeeze's spear.
The pair hobbled around clumps of shrapnel that seemed to permeated through everything. The whole room looked like the pony corpses that were stacked in the corner; spiking and unnatural. Yet, Twilight was still able to see the not-too-old remnants of her and Spike's antics with his blaze. The various desks and metal cabinets were still black with soot and now spiny from the assault.
“Come.” Red said, leading Twilight back towards the horrible corridor where they were led into the interrogation room. Twilight began to feel sick remembering the scenes, but Red turned her to the door on the opposite wall. It had been broken in, and the dented remains of the metal hung on open hinges. Twilight followed Red inside and gasped.
There were racks lining the walls, and lined with machines of death. The horrible crossbows that the soldiers were so fond of hung on hooks on the racks, their bolts were in belts underneath them. Above them on a higher shelf were piles of knives, all sheathed, but knowingly sharpened to a fatal point. Red shuffled to the wall opposite of the crossbows and found a few swords. He unsheathed one, a long straight sword. It was very different from his, as it was straight, hard, and looked like it was mass produced. He swung it around a few times. He grunted in approval between teeth clenched between the sword handle. It may have been inferior to his sword, but it would do.
“Can you take these back to the camp?”
“A...all of them?”
“Too many for your magic?”
“No. But why do you need so many?”
Red smiled. “You will see later.”
“Alright.”
“Good. Take them now and then come back.” he said tossing a sword to her as he shuffled out of the room. She caught it with magic and grabbed all the other tools of death with her telekinesis.
“What about Spike?”
“I will look for him! Gypsy's honor!” he called back, chuckling.
Even though it went against every moral fiber in her body, she knew that Red was trustworthy. He must have had good plans for all these weapons. But still, these were meant for killing.
'Or protecting. Face it Twilight, ponies here kill each other. Red needs these and you should trust him. Look at all he's done for you.' said a small voice in the back of her mind. She sighed and had to agree. Whether Red planned to use these or dispose of them (as Twilight hopped), she had to trust him.
In a flash of magic, she was back in the clearing of the gypsy camp with all the weapons. She floated them over to the caravan with the canopy, and stacked them in a pile underneath. Then she gathered her magical powers again and teleported back to the building.
She popped into the armory and walked out into the main room to find Red going through the cabinets while Squeeze stood on a desk above him, casting light with magic. Squeeze saw Twilight and waved while sheepishly smiling.
“Where's Spike?” asked flatly.
“As I suspected,” Grafted said, flying into the room, holding a sleeping and bound soldier. “He is not here.”
“Why?” Twilight cried, cursing her fate.
“Do not worry, Equestriani. I am finding the location of where they took him.” said Red, not looking up from the cabinet. Twilight sat down on a table and listened to Red shuffling through the papers. Streaking, Grafted, and Crashing came and went out of the building dragging the sleeping soldiers who were bound up and gagged into the last room Twilight hadn't entered. She assumed it must have been the prison, but she didn't want to know. String came walking into the room, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He yawned and sat down next to her.
“Have a good nap?” Red asked sarcastically.
“Shuuuyawnnnn.” String attempted to answer. Twilight giggled as he smacked his lips after the gargantuan yawn.
“This is all your fault, you know.” he said pointing at her with a silly-sleepy face.
“Me!” Twilight exclaimed, feigning surprise.
“You two can flirt all you want when we get back.” Red muttered grabbing a few papers out of the cabinet. “Let's go” he said waving them around.
“What about Spike?”
“This report says they transferred the dragon to the capital, Bitarest.”
Red's eyebrows raised as he read further into it. “It also says that you are to be captured alive and brought to the capital at all costs.”
“What?”
Red crumpled it up, a scowl forming on his face. “Pyrite must want to make sure that the pony and dragon who saw his country for what it is, don't escape.”
“Why would he keep Spike alive then?”
“Simple. He wants to use him as bait to lure you there. As soon as you arrive, he'll kill both of you.”
Twilight's face whitened. Was this really what would happen? Finally reunite with Spike, just to end up dead soon after?
String saw her face and shook her gently. “Don't worry. We'll be with you when you go to the capital, and we won't let Pyrite do anything but die.”
Twilight was a little shocked at the malice that grew in his voice. “Thanks.” she said a little puzzled, but she remembered what red had told her earlier. String had faced the worst time out of all of the ponies when Pyrite attacked them.
Red nodded. “This is true. Now we must get home.” He called for the rest of the group, who came out of the prison.
“Are the prisoner's tied up?”
“Da.”
“Frumos, let's go home.”
In a flash of magical light the seven ponies disappeared from the building, never to return to it.
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Twilight woke up again later in the day to a loud commotion outside the caravan. She rubbed her eyes, surprised to find that she was getting used to sleeping on the cushions. She remembered last night's events and wanted to go back to sleep, but the commotion was too loud.
After they had returned from the way station, they had deposited their weapons back in their respective caravans and went to sleep. Each pony was exhausted, Twilight especially. She tried for the longest time to sleep, but the images of the ponies they fought kept flashing out in her mind. She cried for a while before falling asleep. Luckily, the dreams of the dead ponies and Baba Yaga did not plague her.
She stood up from her bed and traveled through the darkness of the caravan to the door. She heard pots and pans, cheers and shouts, wondering what could be up. She opened up the door and the mid-afternoon light came flooding into the caravan. Twilight had to throw up a hoof to block the harsh rays until her eyes adjusted. When they did, she looked out to their camp and her jaw dropped to the ground.
It appeared that the camp had grown exponentially. There were so many new caravans that they made walkways and paths that gypsy colts and foals ran and played in. Twilight descended from the caravan still in shock as she saw gypsy ponies of all shapes and sizes going on about their lives. She saw that many of the caravans had canopies and that there were small cooking fires underneath almost each one of them. Twilight assumed that it must be close to dinner time, and her stomach confirmed that it was. She started to walk down the paths, not really knowing what she was doing. She just walked and witnessed the sights of gypsy life.
She saw that each caravan was subtly different from the last, but many of inhabitants were the same. She saw many mothers cooking dinner outside while their children ran around and played between the caravans. She also saw the gypsy stallions were either working their talents, like wood working or smithing. All the ponies worked hard, and many stopped to wave nicely at Twilight. Twilight sighed, feeling how much this gypsy camp reminded her of Ponyville.
Twilight kept walking, her mind caught up in her memories. She walked to the very middle of the camp before realizing she had gotten herself lost. She turned around in a few circles and wondered which direction she had come from. She looked around and saw an elderly stallion sitting outside a caravan carving something. She walked over and introduced herself.
“Excuse me, sir. Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. It appears that I'm lost. Could you tell me how to get to.....actually I don't even know where I'm going. Could you just tell me where I am?”
The stallion just stared blankly up at her and continued to carve.
“You can't understand a word I'm saying, can you?”
Again, the stallion just stared at her blankly and carved. Then Twilight thought of something.
“Red Star. Could you tell me where Red Star is?”
He still glanced at Twilight blankly.
Twilight turned sideways and pointed to her cutie mark. “Red Star. Red Star.” she said again pantomiming a star.
The stallion's eyebrow raised, but he continued to carve.
Twilight sighed and thought up something new. Her horn glowed and a large five pointed star appeared over her cutie mark. She pointed at it again and repeated Red Star's name.
The stallion's eyebrows raised and he nodded his head. He put his knife and chunk of wood down and then stood up slowly. He walked in front of Twilight and started to lead her through a series of winding walkways. Twilight followed him, until she found herself in front of a familiar caravan. It was the map-caravan, but two gypsies stood guard outside of it. The stopped the old stallion and he calmly told them about Twilight in Romaneian. He nodded when the guards nodded and then left, slightly bowing to Twilight before leaving.
One of the guards knocked on the door of the caravan and said a quick sentence in Roamaneian, and then Red Star came to the door.
“So you finally woke up, huh.”
“Where did all this come from?”
Red waved with a hoof. “First come inside. I must introduce you to somepony.”
Inside the caravan were all of Red's and Twilight's friends, but there was also two more ponies she didn't know. One rose to his hooves and gave Twilight quite a shock, for she had seen him in her dreams, only he had been younger, and not so massive. His large golden coat gleamed in the lamplight and his dark amber mane completed his appearance as a pony of gold. Only his eyes showed that he was truly alive and not a statue, nor a nightmare. They were sharp, their silver irises only adding to that. He extended a strong hoof to Twilight.
“I am Golden Sickle, brother to Red Star and his second in command.”
“Hi. Uh, I'm Twilight Sparkle.”
He turned to his younger brother. “So this is your new wife? Why do you get married only when I am not here?”
Twilight and Red both blushed.
“She is not my wife brother. She is a tourist from Equestria.”
“And yet she has slept in your bed. Or has Grafted Scroll lied to me?”
Red turned a deeper shade of red. “Yes, but...”
“Bah! No buts! I will officiate this.” he said before starting to speak Romaneian in a sing-song voice. His display caused everypony in the caravan to start giggling.
“BROTHER!”
“Hmm?”
“It is true that she has slept in my bed, but not once with me!” Red Star shouted, turning the deepest shade of red that Twilight had ever seen.
“Oh I knew that. You are not stallion enough to take this lovely mare. Yet, tradition is tradition....” he trailed off, an evil smile on his face. Red fumed and punched him in the shoulder and let loose a stream of Romaneian curses.
“Yes, yes, I know. Wait, she was your mother too, stupid.” Golden nodded as his brother threw a fit. Twilight laughed at the display of brotherly affection. Her laughter was joined in by the rest of the occupants of the caravan.
When Red finally calmed down he sat down back at the head of the table sullenly. He crossed his hooves across his chest and pouted. Golden just shook his head.
“Still such a child.” he pointed Twilight to the other new occupant of the caravan. She was a beautiful earth pony mare. She stood gracefully and walked as if she was made of silk. She eased into Golden's arms, her ivory coat slightly reflecting the color of Golden's golden coat. She looked up to Golden and gave him a quick kiss before looking at Twilight.
She raised a hoof and brushed her ebony mane away from her smokey eyes.
“I am Valley Mist.” she said in a smooth voice, extending a hoof. “I am Golden Sickle's wife.”
Twilight was awed by the beauty she resonated. She took her hoof. “Twilight Sparkle.
They shook and then Golden spoke. “Come and sit. We have many plans to make.” The couple sat back down in their seats and Twilight went around the table to sit near Red Star. He looked at her moodily, but Twilight could see a glimmer of happiness in his eyes.
“As we were saying before Twilight came, you had a great success last night, capturing thoses weapons and troop movements. But now I must inform you of some bad news.” Golden said, his voice growing more serious.
“The negotiations with the leaders of the subject's partisan groups did not fare well. They told us of a new material Pyrite had found deep within the stone mines. This is the reason he has even started pulling extra subjects as a work force from the tourist towns. Whatever he is mining, it has the partisan groups antsy.”
“But they have a plan.” Valley Mist picked up. “They want to attack the capital full on in four days time.”
“Four days!” Red slammed the table. “Insane! We don't have enough time to muster the forces. Plus we still have to liberate all our brothers and sisters imprisoned in Clip-Nacloppa.”
“I believe we can make it. If we march for Clip-Nacloppa tomorrow, the partisan groups in the area have dedicated themselves to helping us in full on assaults. After wards, we will have even more reinforcements from the prisoners we free and the other partisan groups will join us in our march on the capital.”
“But to take Clip-Nacloppa with our meager 60?”
“I know brother, I know. But I know it is a risk we can take. If the oppressed see our assault, then they will rise up and join us, as long as we give them something to fight for.”
“How do we know they will rise p with us? I don't want it to turn out to be like another Hoofdoara.”
“The partisans say they have been helping all the citizens ready themselves for a revolt.”
“You know I don't trust the partisans!”
“But who else can we trust! There are no others!”
Red sighed and looked down at the map covering the table. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he nodded his head.
“We will do this.” he spoke slowly. “But we will not do this as the partisan groups do. I will not have my Roma charge into slaughter. I want to go into Clip-Nacloppa with 60 revolutionaries and come out with 60 revolutionaries.” he said opening his eyes. Their golden-green irises glowed with an inner fire.
“We'll need a plan.”